Part 14 (1/2)

”I know that, Sita,” he says calmly. ”I still want the gun.”

I swallow. Now I am concerned.

”How do you know my name?” I ask.

He grips the shotgun and carefully lifts it from my hands.

”We have met before,” he says. ”You just don't remember me.”

”She remembers,” Kalika says, standing now, her expression unfathomable.

James points the shotgun at her while he keeps the blade at my throat. Out of the corner of my eye I get a glimpse of it. A dagger of some kind, ancient design, cold metal. James is calm and cool. He gestures with the tip of the shotgun.

”You will set the child down on the bench beside you,” he says to my daughter. ”If you don't I will shoot, and you know I won't miss. Either of you.”

Kalika does not react.

James sc.r.a.pes me lightly with the knife and my throat bleeds.

”I will kill your mother,” he says. ”You will have to watch her die.”

A shadow crosses Kalika's face. ”No,” she says.

James smiles. ”You know me. You know I do not bluff.”

Kalika nods slightly. Really, it is as if she knows him well.

”All right,” she says in a soft, perhaps beaten, voice.

”Do it!” James orders.

Kalika turns to set the child down. The baby is almost out of her hands when I see her change her mind. Maybe James sees the same thing, I don't know. But he is ready for her when she suddenly grabs the baby and bolts. Kalika moves extraordinarily fast but James is no slouch when it comes to reflexes.

He shoots her in the lower back.

Kalika staggers but manages to hold on to the child. Keeping his blade tight to my throat, he pumps the shotgun again and takes aim. It is then I ram an elbow into his side. He seems ready for that as well, because even though I have hurt him, he manages to draw the blade all the way across my throat. And he doesn't just nick me. Suddenly my life's blood is pouring over my chest and James has got Kalika in his sights again and there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop him.

James shoots Kalika in the back, behind the heart.

Kalika is covered in blood. She tries to turn, perhaps to attack, but seeing James pumping again, she puts her back to him once more. He fires a third time, hitting her right shoulder. Kalika slumps to the floor, her right arm useless now. Still she manages to hold on to the child, to shelter him from the blasts that ravage her body. As I collapse to the floor, James pumps again and points the shotgun at Kalika's head, actually touching her left temple with the black barrel He still has the dagger in his right hand and I finally recognize it.

Ory's knife. I feel his poison once more in my system.I even recognize Ory's voice when James speaks next.

Funny how I didn't before. Too bad, huh.

”I just want the child,” James says to my daughter.

She stares up at him. ”Your kind never wants just one thing.”

He pulls the trigger back dangerously far.

”You missed me at the condo,” he says. ”That was your chance. But you will have no more chances if you do not do what I say. Nor will the child.”

Kalika stares up at him a moment.

Then she hands him the baby with her left arm.

He takes the infant in his knife arm.

He turns to walk away.

Kalika tries to get up.

”No!” I gasp, choking on my own blood.

James pivots and shoots her directly in the heart. Stunned, she staggers back. He pumps again and shoots her in the exact same spot. Her chest cavity literally explodes. Her white coat and white dress are a mess of red tissue and torn threads. Reaching out a feeble left arm, trying to give it one last desperate try, she suddenly closes her eyes and falls face first on the floor. James stares down at her for a moment and then drops the shotgun and kneels beside me. The infant's face is only inches from my own but I am unable to reach out and touch him. The baby seems worried, but James looks as if he is having a good time.

”What did you tell me?” he asks.” 'I will see you again someday. It is not over.'” He pauses. ”Yeah, I think that was it. Well, at least you were half right.”

I drown in red blood. My voice bubbles out.

”How?”

”How am I here again in a different body? That is a Setian secret, isn't it? But to tell you the truth I never left. Oh, I have transferred many times, into many forms, but that is a small trick for beings such as ourselves.” He glances at motionless Kalika. ”It is a pity your daughter had to destroy my entire crop of new apprentices. But there will be more from where they came.”

”What?” I whisper.

He chuckles. ”What am I going to do with the child now that you have led me to him? Honestly, you don't want to know. Better you go to your grave with no horrific image in your pretty head.” He raises the dagger. ”Where do you want me to put in the poison? It is a new and improved brand. It is guaranteed to kill even the strongest of vampires. And slowly.”

”Go to h.e.l.l,” I gasp.

”Sita, I just came from there.”

He stabs me in midback and leaves the blade in.

I am too weak to pull it out. To find it, even.

James stands and walks away with the child.

Finally, I hear the infant begin to cry.

17.

Red, searing pain and black despair. These two colors, these two forms of torture, are all I know for the next few minutes. It is not as if I lose sight of the room, it is just that I see it from another angle. A place of pain and judgment where my soul floats above the boiling cauldron I am sure is waiting for me on the other side. To realize I have been working all along for the enemy, that I was in fact their greatest ally, is too much for me. Death, if it would just involve oblivion, would be more than welcome. But I know there must be a special h.e.l.l prepared for the one who sold the messiah to the jackal.